Egyptian animal mummies

The Egyptians believed that their gods and goddesses could
appear on earth in the forms of animals or birds.

Each creature represented an aspect of the personality of a
deity and each deity had one or more sacred animals with which he
or she was associated. For example, Amun is associated with the
goose and ram, and Thoth with the ibis and baboon.

Sacred animals were often kept in the precinct of their
associated deity's temple. The animals lived a life of luxury, and
were mummified and buried with great ceremony. By the Late Period
(about 661-332 BC), all members of the species associated with a
deity were regarded as sacred.

A few individual animals were considered to be the incarnation
of the god on earth. The Apis bull at Memphis is the most famous
example. In life it was regarded as the sacred oracle of the god
Ptah. When the Apis bull died it was buried in the catacombs of the
Serapeum at Saqqara. The Buchis bull was treated in a similar way
at Armant.

Animal burials are found at all periods, but the systematic
production of animal mummies for sale and subsequent burial as
votive objects began in earnest in the Late Period (661-332 BC),
and continued into Roman times. Vast catacombs of animal mummies
have been found in various places; the creatures were clearly bred
for the purpose and X-rays of examples now in museum collections
show that some were deliberately killed.